1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to supports for partially embedded poles, posts, and the like, and in particular, to an installation system which will permit such structures to stand free of any stays or guy wires and their associated anchors.
2. Prior Art
When partially embedded poles or posts are required to withstand vertical loading as well as lateral or horizontal forces, for example from cables, conductors, ice and wind, guy wires or stays are typically used to resist these forces and to support the poles. However, the use of stays or guy wires present some serious drawbacks: supports of this type require wide areas for anchorage and thus, there is considerable loss of usable land; they are unsightly, especially in urban areas where they are in heavy use; and the numerous and large excavations required for anchor installation causes damage to the environment and to public and private property.
Also associated with the use of guy wire supports are high costs which arise from the acquisitions of public and private legal permission for their installation, the necessity of using alternate routes when guy wire anchorage of a pole is not permitted or possible in a chosen location, landscaping costs for reparations to property damaged by excavations, and costs for the numerous excavations themselves.
The use of guy wire supports also increases the possibility of the pole sustaining damage and, hence, the equipment supported by it, in the event of a collision with the guy wire. Such an event could result in power blackouts, loss of street lighting, interruption of telephone and cable television service, and the loss of other public and private services.
Other methods and apparatuses for providing support for embedded poles and posts have been devised such as the anchor system shown and described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,010. The system comprises a plurality of anchors each having a tubular main sleeve designed to engage the post. A disc member extends horizontally from a midlength position on the sleeve and upper and lower radial fin members extend from the sleeve to the outer circumference of the disc, being rigidly attached thereto.
In using such a system, it is necessary to form a hole in the ground having a diameter similar to that of the anchor, which is substantially greater than the diameter of the pole or post. For poles of a large diameter, the excavation of a substantially greater diameter hole may not be feasible. In addition, the backfill material adjacent the pole and above and below the anchors, even if compacted, may not attain the compactness of that of the surrounding earth and, therefore, may not be capable of providing the resistance necessary to withstand the forces which act on the pole.